Reese goes to the temple

On Saturday morning, this cute girl hopped into the Van Slooten’s car with Sarah V, Brinley D, and Amanda S for a day at the temple. Reese even hunted down names to take, and then we remembered last minute that we don’t own a printer! Haha doh! She did stake names and we’ll get the ones she reserved done over spring break.  We still find ourselves regularly thrown off by not having conveniences we have grown accustomed to having access too. Like on Sunday, we had s snow day so I decided to bake the cinnamon rolls the kids have been asking for since Christmas. Except I didn’t have parchment paper, my marinade brush, or cinnamon! Haha I ended up defrosting a loaf of Rhodes dough and making orange rolls with it, and rolling it out with the nonstick spray can.  

We talked about treasures of heaven vs worldly treasures in our family Come Follow Me lessons, this week.  We discussed what worldly treasures have been more difficult to live without, and what heavenly treasures we ought to invest more energy into. Hooray for time in the temple to refresh her (and all of our) focus on eternal things after a couple of particularly exhausting and trying weeks. 

Anyway, Reese made it home from Kansas City just ahead of the storm late Saturday night and was safe and sound and happy about her day in the House of the Lord.  I had supplied her with gum (her request) and a box of Little Debbi’s Unicorn Cakes, which are apparently everything a car of four teenage girls could need for a wonderful day.  

Thanks for being so easy to please, girls!  

Sheets

It’s the little things. 

I found my sheets today. I’m grateful for the sheets I’ve been sleeping on, and they served us well, but boy oh boy am I stoked to climb into my bed tonight. I replaced our bedding at IKEA when we were in KC, and now even the same sheets? That’s just over the top exciting. I’m still having a lot of nightmares/night anxiety about the fire, and have a very difficult time sleeping for more than a few hours without waking up. I always sleep better on the days I run, but that’s only 2 maybe 3 times a week if I’m lucky. 

There is so much on my plate. The twins have had some emotional relapses and are having traumatic episodes several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I weep and wail for justice for them and my cries fall on ears that are choosing not to hear, and that makes the wounds even worse, because then I am hurting for them, too. 

I remember a year ago when I coached and mothered them through this thinking, Meg it’s ok. A year from now your life is going to be SO much easier. Your load will be lighter. The kids will be out of diapers and disassociated behavior will be a thing of the past. 

I want to time travel and give last year Meg a hug and tell her she can do this. And then help her to buckle up for the next 6-12 months! 

What I’m learning is that even at what I think is my MOST stretched, I am capable of carrying so much more. And if I yoke myself to the Savior, the load of burden can be infinite, because He will enable me to bear it. I feel daily that “this is not the meal, Jerry.” 

This is not the trial that defines our lives. This is only a preparation for something ahead. I can feel the heaviness of the emotional burden and I know it is only a training session for the future.  I am weak and weary and need to toughen up quick, because Future Meg needs to be stronger than she is today. 

And she will be, because she trained HARD today and survived.

I’m so thankful to those who answer my calls and just listen. The spontaneous acts of service and kindness are so thoughtful and always so needed.  These little things mean SO much to me. You give me life. 

Like finding my favorite sheets. 

Kansas City

I’ve had trouble getting posts to publish and sort of gave up after that. I’ll give it another shot though because...well, because blogging is something I need to do.  

We took a little temple trip a few weekends ago in early February. Here’s the post! 















Our last temple trip attempt involved me getting very sick and hurling most of the day.  I’ve tried and tried to schedule a do-over for weeks, but plans fell through to the kids needs, or work travel schedule, or stake activities, or snow. But Friday was the day the stars aligned! Aaron had been traveling since the previous Saturday for Walmart YBM and flew in at 10:30 Thursday night. Aaron starts a new position at work, on Monday, so Friday was the ideal opportunity to take a day off.  I tried to call a few college aged girls but being a last minute trip, they were booked up!  Kasey took Friday off and stepped in as Mama all weekend!  My parents helped a lot too and tag teamed bringing kids home from school, b-ball, play dates, etc. and Jimmie ran operation human jungle  gym/fun coordinator. I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity to slip away.  

A few hiccups. Sloane woke up at 2am Friday morning and refused to go back to sleep. I also had an 8mile memorial Run for Jennifer event I had committed to attend on Saturday. Esme cried all morning that she was going to throw up.  Aaron realized early that morning that it was a new month and his recommend had just expired.  I had a lot of anxiety about leaving the children, even though I knew they would be in wonderful and safe hands. It sounds silly, but good grief, can’t a set of tired parents just go to the temple?  Satan really did not want us to go, and threw every opposition at us, knowing full well that sick kids, anxiety, and lack of preparation might be enough to cause us to postpone yet again. The twins have an important hearing this week, we had things to discuss, and really have poured every ounce of energy into the children and fire recovery that we needed to reconnect and plan and worship and receive peace and instruction that can only be felt within the walls of the house of the Lord. 

Aaron made a couple calls and our local leaders were incredibly accommodating and Aaron interviewed and renewed his recommend. 

Kasey and I knocked out an 8 mile run on Friday morning. It wasn’t the same as #run4jennifer, but hey we got it done. The kids are fine. We need the temple and we know it and nothing was going to stop us. 

We drove straight up to Kansas City and grabbed a late lunch at Noodles and Company, then spent 5.5 glorious, non-rushed hours in the temple doing initiatories and an endowment session. 

We stayed at a boutique hotel at crowne plaza called The Fontaine and we checked in, then ate dinner at 11pm by a fire in the house restaurant like a couple of childless grownups. 

On Saturday, Aaron hit the hotel gym, I slept in, we found out there is a Kneaders in Kansas City. 

I repeat, THERE IS A KNEADERS IN KANSAS CITY.  That was the obvious thing to do next and once we were filled with French toast, we felt like going back to the temple for sealings. So we did! It was so wonderful. We checked into The Sheraton and were upgraded to the concierge floor. The rest of Saturday was filled with window shopping for furniture in the fancy shops in the city. I drooled over the ginormous lululemon store and Aaron drooled over the Teslas. We made a mandatory stop inside Moosejaw, an outdoor adventure clothing brands recently acquired by Walmart. Aaron destroyed me on a round of ping pong, I tripped on uneven floor and busted my face on a window display. We FaceTimed the children, priced pots and pans at Sur le Table, eyed pretty fountains and sculptures, talked and laughed and planned and cried and ate the best mashed potatoes ever at Kona Grill, got lost in the maze shopping for replacement essentials at IKEA, and had free cake from the concierge at midnight and a continental breakfast Sunday morning before heading home to meet up with our family at church. It was so good and we promised to not let 2 years pass by again before we take a night away together. 

Soren’s First Piano Lesson

Soren expressed an interest in piano lessons, so we decided to give it a shot. We haven’t replaced our piano yet so the kids are practicing on a borrowed large electric keyboard. Soren was fascinated by the many sound options the synth has to offer and I jumped on the interest and asked if he would like lessons. We are giving it a 2 month trial to see if the interest is a thing.  Soren lost two teeth in as many days and one came out in the car right before lessons. He was so excited for his first lesson and his lost tooth and he ran in to tell Thith-ter Thuh-theene all about it.  Enjoy making music, “Thoren!” 

Quincy gets straight A’s!

This is the face of a girl who is seeing the fruits of her labors. She has maintained “A” Honor Roll status all year, and received an achievement award in technology. She is really enjoying art and her pre-ap science class. Keep up the hard work, Suggie Bear!  

Paper

I look tired and a bit psychotic here because I definitely was both.  You would be too if you had the daunting task of handling every single paper in your home. Some are burned to a ruffled stack of brittle charred layers, like a pile of overcooked pillsburry flaky layer biscuits. 

Others only have blackened edges. 

All of them stink so bad that just bringing imone bin indoors made my moms entire house smell like she had the oven self cleaning feature on. 

We found trash bags with our bank routing numbers, as cards, kids birth certificates, 20 years of paycheck stubs, medical documents, old checks and new blank checks all piled up next to the dumpster. Like it’s no problem to just bag and discard these things in a trash bin, vs properly destroying them via shredder or burn bin.  So boss Lady is trying to make a dent in the piles and sort out things to photo copy, things to reorder, and things to take a digital photo of to upload to the blog later. I am wrapped in a towel because everything leaves a thick trail of black on it.  After 5 hours of sorting, I don’t feel like I made enough progress to call it “success” but it’s a start.  And now I’m just avoiding what I should be working on (the contents claim) by catching up on blog posts instead. 

Pack Meeting

My best effort to not make any effort in scouting really showed when I did not replace Corbin’s scout shirt. First the email that if the boys want to participate in the flag/color ceremony, they need to be in their scout uniform. 

And then Corbin’s faithful den leader showed up with shirts for Corbin and two other boys on Sunday.

 My thoughts: how nice! This guy is really on top of things. 

Corbin’s thoughts: my Cub Scout leader loves me and looks after my needs. 

He felt so valued and that just makes my mother heart swell up so big that it smothers the cold dead non-scout-enthusiastic heart right out. 

I love that Corbin loves scouts. I know the program has great value.  What I really love is the belonging and friendship that Corbin feels when he is at den meetings. 

Since Aaron serves as a Weblos leader on Tuesdays, I have been the one to stay home with littles and missed the whole “mom pin” thing. Last night, Corbin was given a big batch of  patches and belt slides to replace the ones that he has previously earned but lost in the fire.  I’m telling you, his leaders are super thoughtful! 










I sort of wanted to run though when they pulled out 4 dozen eggs and announced we would be playing a cub trivia version of Jimmy Fallon’s egg roulette! I was “voluntold” by bro Hanberg and ended up being the only mom who did it. Once I saw they had ponchos it was no big deal, and everyone had great fun. Corbin was pleased to watch me lose in an egg showdown with Sully S.  

I felt like a cheater because I could tell which ones were hard boiled by looking at them, so I let Sully pick out my eggs for me. He chose wisely! 




Corbin, I hope the face on this “fun mom” reminds you to never doubt my love for you! I’ll smash a raw egg on my head for you! Haha!  

Mother love runs deep. 

Great work, Corbin! And yes, I will enthusiastically go buy you a scout belt. You’re going to need it for all those adventure awards you’ve earned.